Contents

Intoduction

The CELF Open Project Proposal is an process whereby members of the public can
submit to the CE Linux Forum ideas and proposals for projects that they think
should be worked on to enhance embedded Linux.

Each year, CELF spends money on contract work to improve Linux, for use in
embedded systems. Some of the projects we have sponsored in the past
include Linux-tiny, DirectFB enhancements, smem, and Squashfs mainlining.

Usually, our process involves querying forum members about their desires
and building a project list from that. This year, we are opening up the
process and asking for your ideas and proposals as well.

Process

Proposal format

Where to send the proposal

Send your proposal to the celinux-dev mailing list, at:
celinux-dev@tree.celinuxforum.org. To do this, you need to subscribe to the list.
You can do this via the celinux-dev mailing list web page.

An alternative is available (although not preferred), which is to send the proposal
to the the CE Linux forum project-proposal mailing list, at:
project-proposal@tree.celinuxforum.org.

Sending the proposal to the celinux-dev list is preferred, because other people
can review the proposal, discuss it, and make suggestions.

Project Selection

The CE Linux Forum will select the projects that it wants to fund.

Q and A

Q. How is this different from other "open project" systems, like Google's "Summer of Code"?
A. Other systems often require that the submitter of the proposal be the one interested in doing
the work. With CELF's Open Project Proposal, anyone who can think of a good idea can submit it,
(possibly with hinting about someone who might be a good candidate to perform the work).

Q. How much money is CELF willing to spend on these projects?
A. The exact amount shall remain a mystery. However, usually, CELF budgets a bit more than
$100,000 each year for contract work of this nature.

Q. Are you daft? Why would you let other people suggest ways to spend CELF's money?
A. Hey, it's open source. Good ideas can come from anywhere. Note that CELF still
controls what projects get selected, and hence where the money will be spent. That's one
of the privileges of CELF membership. However, CELF will publish the list of projects
that it will fund, as well as the projects that were not funded. It is hoped that other
entities may contribute money or resources to push some of the technologies or features
forward, independent of CELF's contribution.